Evolution vs Creationism debate in Alberta, Canada

The Alberta government has proposed legislation
"which would require schools to notify parents in advance of "subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation," [it] is buried in a bill that extends human rights to homosexuals. Parents can ask for their child to be excluded from the discussion.
"This government supports a very, very fundamental right and that is parental rights with respect to education," said Premier Ed Stelmach.
Although Stelmach has confirmed the bill will give parents the authority to exclude their kids from classes if the topic of evolution comes up, Education Minister Dave Hancock said it won't change anything."
================This news story on the CBC.ca site has generated an intense debate with over 1900 comments posted. The vast majority of posters and readers are against the proposal and in favour of evolution.Here is the link: Sorry - we can't find that page

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

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The new rules, which would require schools to notify parents in advance of "subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation,"

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the bill will give parents the authority to exclude their kids from classes if the topic of evolution comes up

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Um, I know Gary Goodyear, the Canadian federal Minister of State for Science and Technology said that confirming acceptance of evolution was a religious issue, but that doesn't mean the rest of Canada has to believe that bullshit. If students in a public school are taking a science class, they should be required to learn all of the science taught in the class. If they take issue with it, fine. I took issue with some of the things I was taught in my American history class, but that doesn't mean I was excused from it.

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We have many intuitions in our life and the point is that many of these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test those intuitions?
-Dan Ariely

I agree.
But the discussion about the proposal has almost exclusively focused on the evolution vs creation debate since many fundamentalist type religious people in Canada consider the matter to be one of religion, not science and they don't want their childrens' minds "polluted" by these "ungodly" ideas in science class.
The posts are now over 2,000 and appear to be a fair representation of the chasm between the two sides.
What is very clear is that few people understand what the term "theory" means in the scientific world. Most proponents of creationism are equating "theory" with "best guess".

Which just goes to prove that what they really need is better science education, not the opportunity to block their kids from getting it.

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We have many intuitions in our life and the point is that many of these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test those intuitions?
-Dan Ariely

Thank you for giving these good, healthy, explanatory and even fun tips on that topic.------------------------------------
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